Snow-making apparatus

ABSTRACT

A snow-making apparatus has a housing, an evaporator roller rotatable in the housing, and a rotary distributor connected to the roller for circulating a coolant through the evaporator roller and thereby cooling the roller. Nozzles on the housing project a mixture of water and air at the evaporator roller such that the liquid freezes into a layer of ice crystals on the roller. A doctor blade smooths the layer of ice crystal on the rotating roller, and a scraper blade scrapes the ice crystals off the roller.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a snow-making apparatus.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The snow made by known such apparatus is “flake ice” that, however, isnot or is only partially suitable for some applications, for example,for the cooling of the human body after a sauna visit.

Such an apparatus is described, for example, in DE 10 2008 029695, WO1996/035913 [U.S. Pat. No. 5,623,831], DE 940 227, and U.S. Pat. No.277,797.

This flake ice is a technically manufactured form of ice. Flake iceconsists of individual ice flakes with an irregular, shard-like,slightly wavy shape. The ice flakes are 1 to 2 mm thick and have atemperature of about −7° C.

Flake ice can be used to cool food, in particular fish, or to make food.

When manufacturing with such a flake ice machine water is filled, forexample, into a cylindrical container, in which a stainless steel rolleris located and the wall of which is cooled via a strong cooling machine.Ice forms on the cylinder wall that passes upward through a conveyingscrew and is scraped off by a scraper and then falls into a reservoir.

Another manufacturing method works via a horizontally arrangedevaporator roller that rotates in a water bath. With each revolution,water freezes on the strongly cooled evaporator surface and chips off ona scraper.

In contrast, there are snow cannons that as a rule make snow and notice, but can only be operated successfully in a (very) limitedtemperature range. For example, the snow propeller is technically known:Central element in this case is a propeller that produces a strongairflow. The nozzle holder is located around the pipe exit with mostlyseveral rings. The outer nozzles are usually designed as mixing nozzles(water and compressed air) for the production of snow cores, the innerones mostly as pure water nozzles. The mixing or nucleation nozzles makesmall ice crystals as crystallization seeds.

The amount of water droplets must be adapted to the external weatherconditions such as temperature and humidity and the throwing range toachieve optimum characteristics of the technical snow. The waterdroplets contained in the air stream emerging from the propeller cannonpartially evaporate in the dry winter air that cools the droplets. Ifthe freezing point is reached, they crystallize on the crystallizationseeds. The drier the ambient air, the better the cooling process. Forexample, this process thus works at a relative humidity of 30% alreadyat 1° C. above zero, at 80% relative humidity, in contrast, below −3° C.is required.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

Compared with the prior art, the object of the invention is to providean apparatus with which production of a product independent oftemperature is made possible, the product being largely similar tonatural snow.

The object of the invention is also to provide an apparatus that has, inaddition to the production of snow or a snow-like product, smallerdimensions than conventional snow cannons and that therefore can be usedeven in ski halls, sauna and wellness landscapes and industrialapplications.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This is achieved, in a snow-making apparatus comprising an evaporatorroller rotatably mounted in a housing pan, a rotary distributor forintroducing a coolant into the evaporator roller, a liquid supply to theevaporator roller, a doctor blade for smoothing, and a scraper blade.According to the invention the liquid supply is formed by nozzles forspraying a mixture of water and air as an aerosol onto the evaporatorroller.

In a preferred embodiment, the scraper blade is near the lowest point ofthe evaporator roller and spaced downstream in a rotation direction ofthe roller from the doctor blade.

The rotary speed of the evaporator roller is 10 to 50 rpm.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

The invention will be described in more detail below with reference toan embodiment shown in the drawings, without being limited to thisexample. Therein:

FIG. 1 is a side view of the apparatus according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a top view of the apparatus of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a section along line of FIG. 1.

SPECIFIC DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring to the drawings, an evaporator roller 1 in a housing pan 5that also serves as a nebulization housing is mounted on a supportstructure of a base frame 4 and side walls 9. A geared motor 6 and arotary distributor 7 for supplying a coolant is provided to drive theevaporator roller 1.

Nozzles 8 are arranged to feed water and air.

A scraper blade 2 and a doctor blade 3 for smoothing the spray film acton the evaporator roller 1.

In operation, a coolant is conducted through the rotary distributor 7 inthe evaporator roller 1 to cool it. The roller 1 is driven by the gearedmotor 6 so that it rotates during operation. Suitably, the evaporatorroller 1 rotates in the range of 10 to 50 rpm.

Water and air are sprayed in the housing pan 5 onto the roller 1 throughthe nozzles 8 (water nozzles and/or two-substance nozzles). The snowlayer forming on the roller 1 is smoothed with the doctor blade 3 andscraped off by the scraper blade 2 positioned near the lowest point ofthe evaporator roller 1. The scraped-off material falls through a shaft10 into an unillustrated receptacle, and may be fed out from there forits intended use, for example, by blowing it into a system.

We claim:
 1. An apparatus for making snow, the apparatus comprising: ahousing; an evaporator roller rotatable in the housing; a rotarydistributor connected to the roller for circulating a coolant throughthe evaporator roller and thereby cooling the roller; nozzles on thehousing for projecting a mixture of water and air at the evaporatorroller, whereby the liquid freezes into a layer of ice crystals on theroller; a doctor blade for smoothing the layer of ice crystal; and ascraper blade in the housing scrapes the ice crystals off the roller. 2.The snow-making apparatus defined in claim 1, wherein the scraper bladeis mounted near a lowest point of the evaporator roller (1).
 3. Thesnow-making apparatus defined in claim 1, further comprising: drivemeans for rotating the roller at a speed of 10 to 50 rpm.